


New Dream Week 2019 Day 1 - Faith

by Anonymous



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Disney, F/M, Ficlet, New Dream, One Shot, Romance, day 1 - faith, new dream week 2019, tangled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 22:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20646857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: this is so late, i'm so sorry?? life has really been dragging me through the mud lately. anyway, enjoy this short little new dream ficlet i wrote for new dream week on tumblr!





	New Dream Week 2019 Day 1 - Faith

**Author's Note:**

> this is so late, i'm so sorry?? life has really been dragging me through the mud lately. anyway, enjoy this short little new dream ficlet i wrote for new dream week on tumblr!

_ Was afraid of darkness 'cause I felt like I was left alone _

_ So I prayed for help to a distant million stars *:･ﾟ✧ _

** _Faith_ **

  


Curled up on her window seat, knees pulled to her chest, gazing out at the world from her high vantage point, Rapunzel can almost fool herself into believing she never left the tower. It isn’t something she intentionally imagines, but rather a thought that creeps up on her when she lets her guard down in the early hours of the starlit morning. She doesn’t miss being a prisoner, or being used for her hair, or being alone most of the time, but a small part of her does miss the lack of pressure that came with her ignorance to her title as the lost princess.

_ How am I going to do this? I’m not ready… _

_ I’m not-- _

A sharp intake of breath cuts through the silence. She startles for a moment before logic catches up to anxiety and she realizes it is she who made the sound. She forces herself to take several deep breaths, trying to calm her racing thoughts. This was **not** a day to be letting darkness pull her under.  


_ Okay, Rapunzel. Slow down. You’re letting your fear get the best of you. Just stay positive. Let’s go for a little walk around the castle. That should clear your head. Yeah. _

Her satin nightgown sighs as she stands, her bare feet making little plit plat sounds on the cold stone floor, which in turn sends a shiver up her spine. When she opens her bedroom door to peer out into the dark hallway, a draft blows about her ankles, causing goosebumps to appear on her legs and arms. 

She doesn’t mind, though. The cold helps ground her in reality, chases the bad thoughts away.

As she walks, an initially shapeless emotion in her heart begins to form into a familiar feeling. 

Longing. 

It tugs at her, making her chest ache. 

She continues to walk, and, unbidden, a name floats to the surface of her mind, accompanying this pain within: ** _Eugene_ **. 

She needs him, wants to feel his warm embrace, to listen to his steady heartbeat, to inhale the smell of his soap and musk and feel safe and understood and not alone. 

But she also doesn’t want to bother him. Everyone in the castle is resting up for the coronation tomorrow, and she doesn’t want to be selfish. Rubbing at her arms to try and chase away the chill, which is getting to be less grounding now and moreso annoying, she keeps trudging along on her moonlit path, passing silently through the hallways like a specter. 

Again, his name swirls in her mind, dances on the tip of her tongue, and again she pushes it aside, mentally chiding herself.

After a while, the cold and this constant assault on her mind by her unchecked emotions starts to become unbearable, and she decides to turn and go back to her room in hopes that perhaps she can try and sleep away her cares. 

The journey back to her room is somehow blissfully shorter than her saunter away from it was, and she sighs as she sinks into the mattress and blankets, her attention once again focused on the view outside her window. Something about the stars has always called to her, and she just watches them, wishing that she won’t have to endure these frayed nerves much longer. 

_ I know I shouldn’t but I think I’m going to have to wake you up, Eugene, _ she thinks, feeling immensely guilty. _ I’m pretty sure having you near is the only way I’ll be able to sleep. _

Chewing her lip, she rises from the bed and turns towards the bedroom door...only to find her entry blocked. What she sees leaves her speechless with surprise for a moment. “Eu--”

“Hey, Sunshine.” His voice is deeper than usual, rough with exhaustion. There are dark circles under his eyes. “I hope I didn’t wake you. I just wanted to check on you. I’ve been worrying about you all night--oof!” 

Before he even finishes speaking, her arms are around his neck, and she’s burying her face in his shoulder. “Whoa, hey! It’s okay...it’s okay, Rapunzel,” he soothes, stroking her hair as she sobs softly into his nightshirt. 

“I’m sorry.” Her voice is thin and barely audible as she pulls away a bit, looking down. 

“Hey,” he replies, sliding two fingers under her chin and tilting her face upward so she is looking at him. His touch is warm and instantly puts her at ease. She gazes into his deep, loving brown eyes. “I had a feeling you would be nervous about tomorrow. Don’t apologize.”

“I’m not just nervous, I’m terrified,” she confesses, feeling a little better despite the content of her words, because speaking it aloud is bleeding off the poison, somehow. “What if I don’t make a good Queen?”

“You? A bad Queen? Impossible!” he jokes, but he frowns a little when she still doesn’t look convinced. “Okay, look,” he says, scooping her up in his arms with a soft grunt and carrying her over to the bed, where he deposits her gently onto her comforter before sitting down beside her, his hand resting on her knee and their thighs pressed together in a comfortable sort of way. 

“I know you never asked for this Rapunzel, and I know you’ve been through a lot more than anyone ever should, but I know you can do this. You were born to do this. You’ve proven time and time again that you’re a leader, that you’re brave and kind and understanding, with more strength and light within you than anyone I’ve ever seen.” 

Her green eyes waver, hope stirring within them.

“And trust me, I’ve seen a lot,” he adds, cracking a roguish grin. This elicits a small smile from her, and she tucks her hair behind her ear. “Really?” she asks, the vulnerability in her voice breaking his heart.

“Really,” he replies, reaching past her to grab her comb and a flower clip off the nightstand and brushing her hair back, which has already escaped from its place behind her ear. He holds the pin between his lips, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he works, and something about how serious yet soft his expression is causes her heart to thud wildly in her chest. Once her hair has been combed back successfully, he pins it in place and sits back to admire his handiwork. “There, perfect plus one.”

She giggles, amused and a bit perplexed. “Plus one?” she asks. 

“Well, you were already perfect,” he explains. “The flower just added to it.”

She shakes her head, still smiling, and flushing deeply now too. _ “Eugene.” _

He laughs softly, too, and she leans into him. He rests his head on her head, which is on his chest.

“Why do you believe so much in me?” she asks after a long silence.

He doesn’t immediately answer, and for a moment she’s worried he’s fallen asleep, but then he says, “Because you’ve never given me a reason not to. And…” He swallows hard, and when he speaks again his voice is sandpapery with emotion. “And you were the one person who believed in me. The least I can do is return the favor.” 

She looks up at him, cupping his face in her hands. “You’ll stand by me?”

“Always.”

“And you really have faith that I can do this?”

“I’ve always had faith in you, Rapunzel. If nothing else in this wild, tangled up, chaotic life of mine, I have always believed in you.”

They share a sweet, passionate kiss, and all her worries feel like they have melted away by the time they’re through. As long as he stays by her side, she can do anything. 

“You know,” she says as the sun rises over the horizon, painting them and their surroundings in a golden glow, “I think I am ready to be Queen. I've got this."


End file.
